Loosening Our Grip Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416) offers an alternative to our desire to control the world: What if the cross and resurrection of Jesus really define the pattern of divine action in human history? What if compassion, understood as the embrace of suffering, is the soil Christian Reflection from which human action should grow? Then, perhaps, we could A Series in Faith and Ethics begin to loosen our death grip on the reins of history. Prayer Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:15-20 Response to the Scripture† I, God, am in your midst. Whoever knows me can never fall, Focus Article: not in the heights, nor in the depths, nor in the breadths, Loosening Our Grip for I am love, which the vast expanses of evil can never still. (Mysticism, pp. 29-36) Reflection In an era so filled with war, disease, and religious splintering that it was every bit as calamitous as our own, a remarkable woman known as “Julian of Norwich” reflected on fourteen visions. Most involved the crucifix placed before her as part of the medieval rites for the dying. “In this crucifix, an image that seems to sum up all of the pain and violence of the world, Julian sees an image of immense comfort because she sees in it an image of divine love so all-encompassing that even human sin cannot mar its perfection,” explains Fred Bauerschmidt. The visions were comforting, but also disturbing to Julian for “she had been taught that God hated sinners and punished them, but her vis- ions seemed to speak of a God who loved sinners and sought to heal the damage that sin inflicted upon them.” Yet she writes, “I saw him and sought him; I had him and wanted him.” If we examine our lives and the world through the eyes of Julian of Norwich, we gain new insight into Trusting God’s goodness. Behind our desire to control the world What do you think? through techniques, or “means,” that secure health and pros- Was this study guide useful perity, Julian sees a fundamental distrust of God. “For Julian, for your personal or group the chief problem that we have is…that we do not believe study? Please send your that God loves us sufficiently to will our good,” Bauerschmidt suggestions to notes. “In other words, if we understood God correctly, we [email protected] would be freed both from our desire for control and from the unbearable anxiety from which that desire springs.” The misunderstanding of God against which Julian reacts may be seen today in our approach to science and technology, he suggests. “To see the world as a self-contained system that Christian Reflection we must ‘work’ through scientific investigation and techno- logical manipulation is not primarily a philosophical mistake, Center for Christian Ethics Baylor University but a spiritual one. It is a lack of trust that God wills good for One Bear Place #97361 us; it is the view that we are in some sense left on our own to eke out of nature whatever good we can.” Waco, TX 76798-7361 Phone 1-866-298-2325 Focusing on the Crucified. In the midst of terrorism, AIDS, and www.ChristianEthics.ws environmental devastation, how can we believe that God has our best interests at heart, or that we are not simply left to © 2005 The Center for Christian Ethics “work” a natural system that God has left to run on its own? 6 Is it not irresponsible to say with Julian, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”? In her vision of the crucified Jesus, Julian grasps that “God repairs the world’s pain…by entering into that pain and heal- ing our sad history from within through an act of love,” says Bauerschmidt. “The cross…is the antidote to our desire to fix things through our mastery of them. Julian devotes her life to Christian Reflection letting this antidote work its way into her soul. But she also A Series in Faith and Ethics realizes that in this life we can never fully be healed of the blindness to God’s love that is the source of our desire to control events. The final repair of fallen creation is a work of God that we hope for but cannot anticipate.” Acting in the world. Our action “should be modeled on the paradox of the cross: action shot through with passion, mas- tery expressed in taking on the form of a slave, and the ful- fillment of human life found in the laying down of that life,” Bauerschmidt concludes. Julian asks us to “embrace the mys- tery of suffering, and it is only from within that embrace that action can grow that truly accords with God’s love.” Study Questions 1. What events today make it difficult for people to believe that God is wholly good? How might Julian respond? 2. “All shall be well” runs counter to our self-image. In what ways do we have a “death grip on the reins of history”? 3. Describe Julian’s critique of efforts to manipulate God with devotion, or “religious techniques.” Is it still relevant? 4. Julian says a Christ-like life is filled with compassion or suffering-with. How is this different from appeals to com- passion to support physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia of disabled newborns, stem cell research, or deposing a dictator? Departing Hymn: “Be Still, My Soul” (verses 1, 2, and 4) Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; leave to your God to order and provide; in every change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly Friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as he has the past; your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Robert B. Kruschwitz, the author of Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know this study guide, directs The his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below. Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University. He serves Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on as General Editor of Christian when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Reflection. sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past all safe and blessed we shall meet at last. © 2005 The Center for Christian Ethics Katharina A. von Schlegel (1752); trans. J. L. Borthwick (1855), alt. Tune: FINLANDIA †Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) 7 Loosening Our Grip Lesson Plans Abridged Plan Standard Plan Prayer Prayer Scripture Reading Scripture Reading Response to the Scripture Response to the Scripture Reflection (skim all) Reflection (all sections) Questions 2 and 4 Questions (selected) Departing Hymn Departing Hymn Teaching Goals 1. To review how Julian of Norwich came to understand God’s goodness and work in the world through her visions of the crucified Jesus. 2. To understand why Julian claims that “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” 3. To consider her insights about how we fail to trust in God’s goodness. Before the Group Meeting Distribute copies of the study guide on pp. 6-7 and ask members to read the Bible passage in the guide. Distribute copies of Mysticism (Christian Reflection) and ask members to read the focus article before the group meeting. For the departing hymn “Be Still, My Soul,” locate the tune FINLANDIA in your church’s hymnal or on the web at www.cyberhymnal.org. Begin with an Observation As Frederick Bauerschmidt notes, the writings of the fifteenth-century English mystic Julian of Norwich “might not seem at first glance a particularly promising resource. Her writings take a form that will strike many modern readers as bizarre: commentary on a visionary experience that occurred during a serious illness, in which she sees a crucifix bleed and speak and undergo various other transformations. Further, these writings come from a context that seems alien to our own: Julian=s book was composed during the latter half of her life, when she lived in a small two-room structure built into the side of a church in Norwich, the door to which was sealed, with only a window allowing contact to the outside world. In our secularized world of instantaneous communication, Julian might seem quaint at best and delusional at worst, locked away from reality in a kind of spiritual autism. But…the past is important not only because it is a ‘mirror’ of the present, but also because it is ‘distant,’ and its very difference from us it can give us a sort of critical distance on our own age, in which we are so immersed that we cannot even notice its pathologies” (Mysticism, pp. 29-30). Prayer Invite members to share their personal celebrations and concerns with the group. Provide time for each person to pray silently. Conclude by praying that God would draw us in love to trust his goodness more, even when we do not understand how he is working for our good. Scripture Reading Ask a group member to read Colossians 1:15-20 from a modern translation. Response to Scripture Read the response to Scripture aloud or invite the group to read it with you in unison. Reflection What can mystics teach us about the life of discipleship? Frederick Bauerschmidt thinks that Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416) can help us to understand and trust more in God’s goodness, which in turn would allow us to approach problems in a less controlling and destructive way.